New to blender trying to figure out how to make a text have a cylindrical side shape
I guess you're looking for a Boolean operation.

Convert your text to mesh (Object -&gt; Convert to .. -&gt; Mesh). This is important! Maybe make a copy of your text object first.
Add the modifier &quot;Boolean&quot; to either object (text, in this case)
Change mode to &quot;Intersection&quot; and select the cylinder in the object dropdown

Optionally: Apply [CTRL]+[A] the modifier and delete unused objects.